You can Change Your Body and Your Health In 8 Weeks
I’ve worked with thousands of patients at my clinic and at the Wellness Research Foundation now. You may know of my effective advancement heart and lung-strengthening program. I’ve named this program Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Execution or PACE®.
The objective of the program is to build a strong heart that can effectively handle the demands of everyday life—along with the unexpected strains that come our way.
You can use PACE® to transform your heart strength and your physique in the next eight weeks—even during the cold and busy winter season. Even if you’ve already read about it several times in these pages, it’s worth a brief reminder this time of year, when working out can seem like, well—work. PACE® makes it easy to stick with an exercise program because it doesn’t require a lot of time, or an expensive gym membership. You can achieve new fitness levels in 10 to 20 minutes, three times a week, right at home.
A Simple Way to Start PACE® At Home
If you’re a PACE® newcomer, you can start with 20 minutes of exercise every other day.When you can exercise comfortably for 20 minutes at a time, you then divide your workout into two 10-minute exertion periods with a rest between. Over time, work on boosting the intensity during your exertion sets by increasing your pace or resistance.
As you get in better shape, you cut your exercise time down to two nine-minute sets with three-minute rest. Progress as you feel comfortable. Eventually, you’ll progress to three six-minute sets with one-minute rests. Then try to go the same distance in five-minute sets. Later, change to four sets of four minutes each, and so on.
When you rest, don’t come to a complete stop. Try to keep going at an easy pace. This keeps your blood circulating to replenish the energy in your muscles. It also prevents lactic acid from building up in your muscles, which makes them sore and stiff. During the high-intensity intervals, you should not be able to talk except to answer yes or no. During the rest periods, you should be able to carry on a conversation.
Every two weeks or so increase your intensity a little more. This is what boosts your heart capacity and increases the power and size of your lungs.
If it’s too Cold Outside…Bring it Inside
When it’s too cold to use PACE® for your
favorite outdoor exercises, you can easily bring it indoors and still enjoy the same health benefits. Of course, there are exercise machines you can buy, and they’re great options. But there are ways around shelling out the extra money for all that equipment that will still allow you to get the same benefits. Instead of using a treadmill, you can run in place in your living room. You can also bike inside—and you don’t even need to buy a separate stationary bike. Instead, you can bring your regular outdoor bike inside, and set it up on one of the stationary stands that are available at bike and sporting goods stores. And instead of a stair-stepping machine, you can use the stairs in your home.
You should add strength-training exercises to winter home workout too. The best way to do that is with good old-fashioned calisthenics. Unlike bodybuilding exercises calisthenics train your muscles to provide power in useful movements. And you can easily make them part of your PACE® program.
Calisthenics are the perfect winter exercise. You don’t need any equipment. With 10 minutes of a few simple moves, you can work multiple muscle groups and build your physique with a purpose of power. You can fit calisthenics into your schedule whether you’re traveling for the holidays, entertaining at home, or catching up on office work.
Listed below are some of my favorite conditioners when you are stuck indoors.
Legs and lower body exercises: Your lower body is more important for functional strength than your upper body. These muscles are bigger and meant to be stronger, but are commonly neglected, especially by novice weight lifters. Your three biggest muscles are your quadriceps (on the front of your thighs), your hamstrings (on the back of your thighs), and your gluteus muscles (in the buttocks). The best ways to work them are with the following three exercises:
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Squats—With feet almost together and arms at sides, head straight and level, bend your knees to lower your body. When thighs are parallel to the floor, rise up on your toes, while simultaneously swinging your arms forward. They will be straight out in front of you, parallel, with your fingers together and palms facing down. Once you’ve lowered your body, reverse the motion without stopping, and return to original starting position. Repeat.
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Instep touches—Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes slightly pointing outwards, arms at your sides, head straight and level. Bend forward at your waist, turn upper body, and bring fingers of one hand to instep of opposite foot. Keep arms and legs straight but not locked. Simultaneously, raise your other arm to ceiling. Repeat.
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Jump squats—With body crouched, feet together, arms at sides, head straight and level, quickly straighten legs and jump upward as high as you can. Simultaneously, extend arms and reach overhead. After landing, quickly return to original position, without losing your balance.
Abdomen and lower back exercises: To prevent pain and injury in the lower back, you must have strong abdominal muscles. Building powerful core muscle groups to improve your breath, posture, and mechanics of motion supports functional strength. These exercises alone won’t eliminate that spare tire—you’ll need to improve your diet to go along with your new exercise program to do that—but they will improve your body and lengthen your life.
Here are four of the best indoor exercises for concentrating on your waist:
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Crunches/sit-ups—Lie on your back, raise your head and feet slightly, hold, relax. Repeat.
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Leg levers—Lie on your back, legs six inches off the ground. Lift legs another foot higher, return to starting position. Repeat.
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Flutter kicks—Lie on your back, and alternate each leg 2-3 feet off ground. Repeat.
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Scissors—Lie on your back, raise legs a few inches off ground. Spread legs apart and then bring them together. Repeat.
Upper body exercises: Challenge your upper body by using your own body weight. Everyday activities, like lifting heavy packages or moving furniture, will be easier as your muscles build useful strength. To prevent injury, don’t make the common mistake of overtraining your arms and shoulders while neglecting your back. I’ve seen more shoulder injuries occur from this imbalance than I care to recall. Think back strength even while working your chest and shoulders and avoid isolated, fixed-position bench and shoulder presses altogether. The best indoor exercises for building functional upper body strength include:
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Pushups—Combine this exercise with jump squats and you have a complete whole-body winter program you can do anywhere. Lie face down. Place hands a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Straighten your back and place feet together. Lower yourself until you almost touch the ground. (Keep knees on the ground and feet in the air if this is too difficult for you at first.)
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Arm haulers—Lie on your stomach. Stretch your arms in front of you. Raise arms and legs off floor and sweep arms back to your thighs (similar to a breaststroke.) Return arms to starting position. Repeat.
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Pull-ups—You’ll need a bar for these. You can get one that attaches to an indoor doorjamb of your home. Your palms face away from you on the bar for a traditional pull-up to strengthen your back muscles. Palms face toward you to do a chin-up, which focuses more on your biceps.
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Dips—Use parallel bars, two chairs, or two desks. Lift your feet off ground, while putting one hand on each object. Slowly lower yourself until elbows are at 90-degree angles. Pause. Slowly raise yourself. Repeat.
As with any exercise, begin slowly. You’ll need to build up your stamina by starting easy and steadily increasing your fitness. If you feel any dizziness, shortness of breath or pain during any of the calisthenics described above, slow down. Do not over-exert yourself. If done effectively, you will transform your body through the power of calisthenics. By doing a regular calisthenics routine, you’ll see improvements in your stamina and appearance.
You will See Results in Just 3 Weeks
Most people think you have to work at a very high intensity to get such fast results on the PACE® program. While you will focus on intensity levels during exercise, you will not work at uncomfortable levels to get results.
Begin your PACE® program at a level that’s comfortable for you. As your body responds to the challenge, turn the level of activity up a notch—without feeling an uncomfortable or painful level of exertion, and without working longer.
I’ve included a chart that shows my favorite workout to get you started. You may also want to get a couple of books from the library to learn some other exercises. This will keep your workouts fresh and interesting.
Spend a few minutes, three times a week with PACE® this winter, and come spring you’ll emerge with a chiseled body and a powerful heart.
Al Sears M.D.
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